Windies legends call for ban on 'cricket-killing' T20s

Sydney, Nov 14(ANI): West Indian legends Sir Viv Richards, Michael Holding and Joel Garner have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show some guts and ban international Twenty20 matches, which they believe is slowly but gradually killing the game.

"I have been on committees at ICC level, and West Indies Cricket Board level, and my problem with most of those committees is that you don't have enough people with balls on them," News.com.au quoted Holding, as saying.

"There are too many people happy to toe the line to make sure their positions are comfortable on these committees and boards, and ride the wave, instead of saying, 'No, this ain't right, let me find some other people who have influence on this committee who can also say this ain't right and change the direction'," he added.

"You don't have enough of that in world cricket. I have absolutely nothing good to say about Twenty20 cricket. You should not be playing international Twenty20s, it should remain as domestic tournaments," he said.

Holding added: "The administrators who run the game are a waste of time, and they're allowing Twenty20 cricket to basically destroy world cricket."

Meanwhile, Garner said: "They're the ones who are giving the windows and making the time available to slot Twenty20 competitions in."

Richards said: "The ICC could play a huge role, as Mikey was saying, in a parenthood role and step in and get all the countries involved. You can still have Twenty20 cricket, which can be a great asset in terms of what you miss with bums on seats as far as Test cricket is concerned."

"I just want balance, and if you have balance you will have a much better ratio of individuals wanting to represent their countries. We lack leadership at this point with where this is all going," he said.

"The ICC have been given the mandate to show leadership on the issues and have been found wanting," he concluded. (ANI)